Sherriff also wrote prose. His own novelised version of Journey's End was published in 1929. His 1939 novel, The Hopkins Manuscript is an H. G. Wells-influenced post-apocalyptic story about an earth devastated because of a collision with the Moon. Its sober language and realistic depiction of an average man coming to terms with a ruined England is said to have been an influence on later science fiction authors such as John Wyndham and Brian Aldiss. The Fortnight in September, an earlier novel, published in 1931, is a rather more plausible story about a Bognor holiday enjoyed by a lower-middle-class family from Dulwich.

^Sherriff maintained close links with the school for the rest of his life. He sent a copy of Journey's End to the headmaster after the play was first performed in 1928, and was a generous benefactor to the school until his death, paying particularly close attention to the school rowing club, which now bears his name. He financed a number of boats named after his plays ("Journey's End", "White Carnation", "Home at Seven", "Long Sunset" and "Badger's Green"). He also purchased a piece of land at the end of Aragon Avenue in Thames Ditton for the purpose of building a school boathouse [2], which was completed in 1980.